"Steward ownership made us coherent.": Leveraging a corporate governance transformation to embed a logic of sustainability at Sharetribe

Abstract

This study exploreshow Sharetribe, a Finnish technology (tech) company, transitioned from venture capital ownership to Steward Ownership, a novel governance structure that legally prioritizes social and environmental commitments. Using intrinsic case study design, the research discovers the conditions that motivated this change, the steps involved in implementation, and the factors that enabled success. Data were collected from company documents, legal records, internal communications, and six semi-structured interviews with organizational members who were present during the 2017-2018 transition period.

The study presents findings first as a narrative processual account of the transition process, identifying key barriers including legal complexity in implementing an unprecedented governance structure in Finland, and supports including collaborative decision-making processes, collective sensemaking, and compatibility between the governance model and organizational identity.Then, findings are presented through a conceptual lens, showing how the five key conceptual themes relate to one another.

The findings show how Sharetribe’s transition was driven by tensions between market logic, which prioritizes investment growth, and sustainability logic, which prioritizes long-term viability and purpose fulfillment. Steward Ownership performed two distinct functions for the subject company: it provided both a set of governance mechanisms to legally protect company mission and created a practical pathway to impact investment. The discussion challenges theview on sustainability systems change wherein the transformation of values and mental models are seen as the ultimate levers of change, showing how adjustingparameters like corporate governance can also support transformational change.

This research contributes tothe emerging body of scholarship on Steward Ownership and alternative corporate governance forms, demonstrating how governance structures can be leveraged to embed organizational purpose within market-driven contexts. The findings also have practical implications for organizations seeking to implement purpose-oriented governance and for policymakers interested in facilitating such transitions.